


Tali needs to go on more missions, this is fun!

by themoonowl



Series: A Real Hero [5]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Bad Driving, Eletania, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Geth, Mass Effect 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themoonowl/pseuds/themoonowl
Summary: Tali goes on her first mission.
Relationships: Garrus Vakarian & Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Male Shepard & Garrus Vakarian, Male Shepard & Tali'Zorah nar Rayya
Series: A Real Hero [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1429021
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Tali needs to go on more missions, this is fun!

"Hey, Tali." She jumped at the sound of Shepard's voice, nearly dropping the circuit board Adams had told her to put back in their place. "Um. You okay?"

"Hello, Shepard.” Tali exhaled. “Yes! Yes, I am. What do you need me to do?"

"Wanna come with for this next mission? The Alliance lost some kind of data module, and I got word there might be geth involved. Figured you'd wanna see how a mission usually goes."

Heat bubbled through Tali's suit, making her legs bounce. A mission? "Of course I'm in! I won't disappoint you, Shepard!"

"Alright. Check in with Williams for gear, and I'll meet you in the Mako."

Keelah, they were even going to ride in the Mako? This was turning out to be the best day ever! She hastily put the circuit board in its spot and made a beeline for the lockers.

* * *

The probe looked like it had been ransacked. Very crudely too. From what little Samed knew about geth, they wouldn't just  _ pull out _ parts, with wires left hanging.

There was a bump on his left leg—and that was his answer. Those space monkeys were native to Mindoir too, usually hanging around the lakes; and he knew how grabby they could get too. God, did he know well.

"So, it wasn't geth that took the module," he said. But there was one problem. He'd promised Tali a mission involving the robots themselves. And he could practically see the disappointment behind her mask. "But,” he continued. “Maybe they could still show up, so be alert." Tali's eyes lit up, literally.  _ Thank God. _ "First we need to find where one of these creatures went."

Tali instantly pulled up her omni-tool. "Well from what I can tell, the module is still somewhere in the area."

"Oh, this’ll be fun. All we have to do is shake up some  _ pyjaks—” _ That was what Garrus called them;  _ Even more talent wasted on this mission, _ Samed thought. “—and see which one has the module.”

"Okay. We might not be fighting geth, but these buggers are difficult to catch and it's even tougher to pry things off of them." Though, he was still a kid when one made off with his gamepad. They should be easier to deal with now, hopefully.

The three of them got back to the Mako. They had a lot of driving to do and a lot of space monkeys to shake.

* * *

Tali felt like she was going to be sick as the Mako shook with her inside, only the inner layout giving her any indication of which way was up. Truly up.

“You know, if we didn’t make a stop for that ruin, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Garrus had his arm wrapped around one of the handlebars. That was probably a good idea. Tali hugged the long piece of metal next to her as hard as she could.

“Hey, it showed up as an anomaly on the map. It could’ve been a geth ship or something, you never know.”

“Geth don't show up on maps,” Tali’s voice shook, and another burst of nausea passed through her stomach. “They usually mask their signatures.”

“Oh. Well, good to know, then!  _ Shit,” _ Shepard muttered as the Mako went vertical again.

“You know.” Garrus extended his other arm and gripped the other handlebar. “I thought humans had tests for these sorts of things. Licenses too. Where’s yours, Shepard?”

“I never got a drivers’ license. But I know my way around rough terrain, okay? Did this a lot back home.”

“I don’t know. I wouldn’t call this—” Another loud bang came from the front side of the hull, “—knowing.”

Acid bubbled up Tali’s stomach, and it almost got out, but she swallowed. Perhaps she should just get it over with and throw up. It wasn’t like anyone else was going to know, her suit would just filter it all out.

The Mako stopped shaking. It stopped moving too, with Shepard taking a deep breath and reclining back in his seat. Garrus slowly let go of the handlebars, and Tali carefully unwrapped herself from the rail too.

“Oh. Well. Huh. That’s pretty,” Garrus said. Tali took a glance out of the front window and Shepard opened his eyes wide.

A spark of sadness passed through Tali’s chest at the sight. The way the stars shone among the clouds, it almost looked like one of the paintings of Rannoch back on the Flotilla, an ancient one painted by the famous artist Sennu'Summa, right after her people were driven from the homeworld. Though, this world had a lot more trees.

Shepard got up and turned open the primary hatch. “Wanna enjoy the scenery a bit?”

Tali eagerly nodded, while Garrus nonchalantly said: “Sure. Why not. I’d also say ‘I could use a breather’, but, well. Toxic atmosphere and all that.”

There was a click of an omni-camera just as Tali closed the secondary hatch behind her. Shepard stood on a ledge taking pictures, while Garrus slowly spun around himself with a finger on the side of his helmet. Probably scanning the perimeter. 

Tali meanwhile just took a deep breath. As deep as she could through her filter, at least. And admired the rings stretching wide among the stars, and the thousands of trees below. 

_ I wish the Flotilla could see this. _

Perhaps Shepard had the right idea. Tali sprung up her omni camera and took picture after picture, warmth bubbling up her stomach at the thought of coming back home once this would be over. Followed by that same spark of sadness as before.

Keelah, homesickness? Now? She exhaled a wistful breath and focused on the horizon instead. And to a strange orange light in the distance.

“What’s that?” She pointed, and Garrus turned in her direction.

“Some kind of mineshaft, I’d say. Shepard, maybe we should check that out first, the module might be in there.”

Shepard just shrugged. “Beats wrestling with monkeys.”

* * *

“And then, I dodged a rocket, just as Shepard  _ fried  _ those geth’s shields. But then a big Destroyer kicked one of the boxes, so I thought, ‘Keelah, I hope he doesn’t start running towards us!’ So, I fried its weapons first, and then—”

Samed folded his arms and smiled at Tali walking around the cargo hold with a proud bounce to her step, recounting the mission to the rest of the crew. It was a good call bringing her after all. Her and Garrus too, though Alenko’s biotics mixed in with his tech skills proved to be a lot more suited to Samed’s combat style than Garrus’s high-risk 'waiting until the last moment to shoot' kind of way.

He just needed to see how Wrex would behave on mission drops, now. Samed had heard tales of krogan tenacity in battle, but not once had he encountered one on his missions. Anderson did send some kind of message about a 'Liara T’Soni'—Matriarch Benezia’s daughter, allegedly—who they needed to find on some kind of volcanic world. Seemed like the perfect mission to bring a big, resilient krogan to.

But that was in the future. He needed to report to Anderson and Udina first. For now, he watched what was perhaps the youngest in his squad explain how to disassemble a geth in the most effective way. And proudly shook his head with a smile on his face.


End file.
